"Most certainly, I tell you, one who doesn't enter by the
door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a
thief and a robber. But
one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for
him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name,
and leads them out. Whenever he brings out his own
sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his
voice. They will by no
means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don't know the
voice of strangers." Jesus spoke this parable to them,
but they didn't understand what he was telling them.
Jesus therefore said
to them again, "Most certainly, I tell you, I am the
sheep's door. All who
came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn't listen to
them. I am the door. If
anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and
will find pasture. The
thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have
life, and may have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not
a shepherd, who doesn't own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the
sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them. The hired hand flees because he
is a hired hand, and doesn't care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know
my own, and I'm known by my own; even as the Father knows me, and
I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are
not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice.
They will become one flock with one shepherd. Therefore the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me,
but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power
to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father."Therefore a division
arose again among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, "He has
a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?" Others said, "These are not
the sayings of one possessed by a demon. It isn't possible for a demon to
open the eyes of the blind, is it?"

It was the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was
walking in the temple, in Solomon's porch. The Jews therefore came around
him and said to him, "How long will you hold us in suspense? If you
are the Christ, tell us plainly."
Jesus answered them,
"I told you, and you don't believe. The works that I
do in my Father's name, these testify about me. But you don't believe, because
you are not of my sheep, as I told you. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them.
They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given
them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my
Father's hand. I and the
Father are one."Therefore Jews took
up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which
of those works do you stone me?"The Jews answered
him, "We don't stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because
you, being a man, make yourself God."
Jesus answered them,
"Isn't it written in your law, 'I said, you are
gods?'
If he called them gods,
to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can't be broken), do you say of him whom the
Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You blaspheme,' because I
said, 'I am the Son of God?' If I don't do the works of my
Father, don't believe me. But if I do them, though you
don't believe me, believe the works; that you may know and believe that
the Father is in me, and I in the Father."They sought again to
seize him, and he went out of their hand. He went away again beyond the
Jordan into the place where John was baptizing at first, and there he
stayed. Many came to
him. They said, "John indeed did no sign, but everything that John
said about this man is true." Many believed in him there.